July 16-18: Dodgers start 2nd half of season with a weekender at Colorado, where they usually dominate. We saw how well balls fly out of Coors Field for the All-Star game and HR Derby. No lead is safe there.
Game 1- 10-4 good buddies! Dodgers put up 3 crooked numbers (5, 2, 3) and hold on for a 10-4 win. Urias was a better batter than pitcher although he survived a slam on a mistake to last 5 innings and pick up his NL leading 12th win (12-3). Hits were produced by all 8 Dodgers position players, 2 pitchers and a PH (Pujols) — for 14 total. Big hit was a 1st inning 3-run blast by CT3, coming off his All-Star performance, following a leadoff double by red-hot Mookie (once was 8-10, went 3-5). Will Smith and AJ pounded the ball, Muncy struggled, and poor Belli still can’t hit a high fastball. Bullpen put up 4 pretty clean innings, including yet another newbie (Smurfy? Selfie?) just picked up from San Francisco. Hard to keep track of Dodgers roster, especially the pen.
Game 2- Dodgers slow and steady to build a 9-2 win: they put up a picket fence until finally posting a big crooked number (4) in the 9th. Monster mashing by the M&M bros. as Mookie and Max Muncy each had 4 hits (8 of the 12 LAD hits) and 10 total bases: Mookie 3 2B + 1 HR; Max 2 1B + 2 HR — wow! Injury: Mookie left game with a sore hip (hoping not serious). AJ continued his hot hitting with his 7th HR of July (he should be batting in the 4 or 5 hole now). JT finally got a hit (0-4 in the 9th), driving a long fly to CF that would have been a homer in most parks, but it squeaked in between the top of the fence and top of the glove for a 2-run double.
Belli still trying to hit a high fastball with no contact (sad) — move him down to 7 or 8.
On the pitching side, Buehler found himself after giving solo runs in the 2nd and 3rd to dominate and shut down the Rox through 7. I would have let him pitch the 8th, or at least until 100 pitches, since no lead is safe in Coors. Roberts, as is his want, pulled him early (wasting bullpen arms).
Coaching tip: twice in the game Rox CF and RF fought over a fly ball they both called and twice the ball fell in. My coaching tip is to always use a “3rd party call” on flies betwixt. Don’t let the fielders involved make the call, since they will often both call, interfere with each other, with bad results. Use a designated 3rd party to call it early and loudly, so the other fielder stays clear.
Game 3- Ouch! Dodgers blow 3 leads and are now 1-9 in extra inning games. The Dodgers 1st lead was on a JT 2-run jack (2-1). Later, CT3 dropped a popup to give the Rox the tie at 2-2. Past ball aids putting Rox on top 3-2 in the 7th off Kelly. But red hot Will Smith golfs a 2-run job for a 4-3 lead in the 8th. Treinen does his job in the 8th, but Jansen blows the save in the 9th to tie the game 4-4 and go to extras. Will Smith comes through yet again with a clutch RBI single in the 10th to give the Dodgers their 3rd lead 5-4. But then old time Dodgers killer Blackmon hits the 1st pitch from Bickford out of the park for a walkoff 6-5 Rox win. Bad taste.